


Meeting of Equals

by eerian_sadow



Series: Avalon [96]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Trust, slowly building loyalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-21
Updated: 2008-07-21
Packaged: 2018-10-14 22:33:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10545460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: Since the day he joined the faction, Soundwave has always been favored by the Decepticon leadership, in many ways.





	

**Author's Note:**

> avalon-verse one-shot: check. sidestory to "last one standing": check. birthday gift for [](http://spotlight-noa.livejournal.com/profile)[spotlight_noa](http://spotlight-noa.livejournal.com/), which he has graciously allowed me to share: check. next chapter of "deeper than family" and "gravity of love": coming soon.

He looked down at the twins recharging on his berth and wondered if he hadn’t overstepped his bounds. Megatron trusted him, even showed him a measure of leniency if he went astray.

But saving these twins from Megatron’s…practicality may have done more harm than good. It was not, however, Megatron’s wrath he feared.

He had felt Shockwave’s disapproving glare burning holes in his armor as he and Ravage carried the sparklings back to their base. He did not understand the other mech’s disapproval, but he knew that it could cause real problems for himself, Ravage and the twins if Megatron’s second was angry with him.

And yet he could not have left the twins alone to die in a scrap heap the way he had been left as a sparkling.

He looked at the sparkling twins again and smiled under his mask. They weren’t more than a few cycles old; so young they didn’t remember if they even had designations. They cuddled together in recharge in a way that suggested they would spend very little time in his chest compartment once they could transform; they seemed to need to be together almost constantly.

But they were his, now that he had repaired them and bonded them to his own programming, and nothing short of primus Himself would change that. Not even Shockwave and his disapproval.

He clung to that feeling, that strong belief, even as Shockwave entered his quarters moments later. Soundwave did not bother to hide his anger at the intrusion; even Jazz had never been allowed to simply enter his room unannounced. He felt vaguely violated.

“What is the meaning of this, Shockwave?” Soundwave’s voice was seething.

“You will explain your actions, Soundwave.” The guardian’s voice held no room for compromise.

“They did not deserve to be deactivated,” the musician replied. And that was why he had stepped between Megatron’s fusion cannon and the two starved, frightened sparklings hiding in the munitions factory. Every sparkling deserved the chance Jazz had helped him have to overcome their own origins.

“They are a waste of energon and other resources that would better serve the rest of the army,” Shockwave replied.

“They are sparklings who can be raised with Megatron’s beliefs and serve the army in their own right.” He wasn’t sure that argument would have any effect on Megatron’s second, but it was worth a try. Shockwave was almost fanatically loyal to the Decepticon leader.

“They are too young to be of any use for vorns. Their continued existence in the Decepticon ranks is useless and illogical.”

“They are small enough to be useful as soon as their self-repair systems come online.”

“Explain.”

In that one word, Soundwave could practically feel his victory over Shockwave. He had said something that defied what the older mech’s logic circuits were telling him, and that left an opening for the younger mech to change his mind.

Carefully choosing his words, Soundwave explained how the sparklings would be useful in sabotage missions and sneak attacks from behind enemy lines. They would be small enough to infiltrate both Autobot and Neutral camps undetected and not be seen as a threat if they were caught. He told Shockwave that their energon stores would barely be touched by the symbiotic mechs; they would have to be fed from his own lines for vorns before they could process standard energon on their own.

Shockwave pondered Soundwave’s words for a short while after the communications trainee stopped speaking. “Very well,” he finally said. “But take care that you do not disappoint us. Megatron will be displeased if they do not perform as promised.”

Soundwave heard the threat in the guardian’s words—and he knew it was all Shockwave’s, not Megatron. He also felt the respect that he seemed to have gained from the other mech; appealing to logic worked when most other things failed.

He had simply shown the Decepticon second-in-command the logic in keeping the sparklings on base.

He looked back at the twins with another hidden smile and turned over potential designations in his processor.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Soundwave often found himself wondering how he had fallen so far into Megatron’s trust and good graces. Rather than going to Shockwave or Starscream with his plans or strategies, he often came to the rather lowly ranked communications officer. Soundwave was often given duties that—despite having Megatron’s full authority to take care of them—would have been better handled by his Second in Command or his Air Commander. He was often the target audience for many of Megatron’s soliloquies as well, long rambling speeches that gave far more insight into the Decepticon leader than merely serving in the army would do.

This higher understanding of their commander often brought Shockwave to him as well. Megatron often confused the guardian mech with his seeming lack of logic and he would appeal to the communications officer for an explanation. Eventually this need for understanding expanded to the other mechs in the army—particularly the Seekers. From there, almost inevitably, the conversations began to move from topics that pertained exclusively to the army to matters that were much more personal.

Soundwave was stunned to realize that he had begun hoping that one of the officers would do something particularly illogical so he would have a visit from Shockwave demanding an explanation. It was unthinkable—and potentially dangerous.

The Decepticons had very strict fraternization rules.

He mentioned his problem to Shockwave the next time the guardian came to him. Instead of berating him for the illogic of having attachments, the older mech gave him a look that might have been a smile from someone with the proper facial features.

“The situation is easily remedied.”

Soundwave was certain that he would never see Shockwave in a private setting again after that.

At the beginning of the next duty cycle, Megatron summoned him into the command center just before his regularly scheduled shift. As he stepped into the communications center, he was certain he was about to receive disciplinary action for his—probably—ill thought confession to Shockwave.

He was greeted by the graying corpse of the chief communications officer and Megatron’s sadistically pleased smile. “Ah, Soundwave. I require you to assume Transistor’s duties as communications officer.”

Soundwave glanced from Megatron to Shockwave. The guardian mech nodded once. “Yes, Lord Megatron,” Soundwave replied.

“Good.” Megatron’s smile grew. “Starscream, remove this filth from my command center.”

“What?!” the Seeker shrieked.

The rest of the command staff chuckled. Soundwave took his station without further comment.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Shockwave was cleaning Ravage when Soundwave returned to his duties after a particularly long duty shift in his second deca-cycle as chief communications officer. Shockwave’s posture said that he felt that he belonged in the communications officer’s quarters; Ravage’s expression said that he was as pleased with the older mech doing the cleaning as he would have been if Soundwave had been doing it.

“What are you doing?” Soundwave asked, trying to process the scene.

“I have been waiting for you to finish your duty shift,” Shockwave replied. “I wish to speak with you.”

Speaking with him was not, in itself, a good enough reason for Megatron’s second in command to be waiting for him _inside his quarters_ or to be cleaning his sparkling while he was doing it. he knew he should be angry at the violation of his privacy—and potentially of his sparklings’ safety for he had left all three of them in his quarters this duty shift—but he was only surprised and curious. He was also glad to see the guardian, who had been away from the command center for just over a deca-cycle.

He stepped inside his quarters and let the door slide closed behind him. He looked around the main room and, seeing the twins in recharge together in his favorite chair, opened his private comm to Ravage. _Why did you allow Shockwave in our quarters while I was on duty?_

Ravage flicked his gaze to the floor at the tone of rebuke in his creator’s voice. _I thought you would want to see him. You missed him while he was away._

The sparkling sounded so repentant—and sincere in his desire to ease Soundwave’s loneliness—that the communications officer had a momentary pang at the tone he had taken with his offspring.

 _I wouldn’t have let him hurt the little ones,_ Ravage added in a softer voice.

That was true, but if Shockwave had been hostile then he would be mourning all three of his sparklings. Soundwave knelt down in front of Ravage—and by extension Shockwave—and took the sparkling’s face in his hands. _I know that you would protect your brothers against any mech who would raise a hand to them, but you cannot trust the other Decepticons this way. You must not do this again._

 _I won’t._ The sparkling’s response was practically a whisper. He curled into a ball trying to make himself as small as possible. _I’m sorry._

Before he could say anything in response, Soundwave was startled—again—by Shockwave placing his hand over his on Ravages faceplate. He looked up at the guardian mech with questioning optics.

“Do not be angry with your sparkling,” Shockwave told him. “I was most insistent that I see you immediately upon your return.”

Soundwave turned off his internal comm. Shockwave may not have heard what they were saying, but Ravage’s body language had conveyed enough for the older mech to know what was going on anyway. “I am not angry,” Soundwave said. “I was concerned for what would have happened if someone less trustworthy had been allowed in our quarters.”

“None would harm you or your sparklings and bring down Megatron’s wrath upon them.” Shockwave moved his hand to Soundwave’s faceplate. “Or my own. Not even Starscream.”

Soundwave didn’t know what to make of the other mech’s words. He knew he was favored over the other officers, but Starscream was as well and that did not stop the attempts on the Air Commander’s life. “I do not understand.”

Shockwave pulled the communications officer up so they were optic level and then pulled him into an embrace. Ravage jumped from his seat on the guardian’s lap rather than risk being smashed between the larger mechs. Soundwave was almost sorry that his sparkling had not stayed to act as a barrier between them.

“If it were done,” Shockwave said, “I would ask to Bond with you.”

For a moment—perhaps even an entire klik—Soundwave could not quiet his thoughts long enough to process Shockwave’s words and formulate a response. The meaning was staggering. Almost without thinking, he replied. “If it were done, I would say yes.”

And he knew it was true. He had—perhaps quite a long time ago—fallen in love with Shockwave. Soundwave wondered what Jazz would say.  



End file.
